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92 High Road
London N15 6JU

Tenants Guide

Tenants Guide

A guide to help you with the process of renting a house or flat

Before You Start Your Rental Search

Make sure you are financially prepared for the rent and the permitted payments.
Once the landlord decides you will be a good tenant, you will need to pay fees to set up the tenancy to cover the cost of references, credit checks and arranging your rental.
Before you move in you will also pay a security deposit and probably one month’s rent in advance.
These initial checks establish that you can afford the rent and therefore will make a good tenant.

Other things to consider
How long do you want the tenancy for? A tenancy is usually a minimum of 6 months. If you are not sure, you can ask for a tenancy to be extended but remember there are costs involved in extending your fixed term tenancy agreement.

Start gathering together documents that your agent will need to confirm your identity, immigration status, credit history and possibly employment status.
You can also check out the government’s How To Rent: The Checklist For Renting In England.

How to Find a Place to Rent

Before you start looking
Have a careful think about what sort of property you want and which best suits your current lifestyle

  1. Do you have a car and therefore need off street parking or a garage?
  2. Do you own a lot of furniture so need an unfurnished rental, or own a little so part-furnished would be more appropriate?
  3. Have you just left university and have no furniture so need a fully furnished place?
  4. If you choose a furnished or part furnished you will have to look after the furniture or will lose some or all of your deposit to cover damage.
  5. Do you want or need a garden for yourself, children or pets?

Where do you want to live?

  1. Do you need to be close to work or your children’s school?
  2. If you don’t drive do you need to be close to public transport links?
  3. Do you want to be close to town for nights out?

Once you have done this make a list of your essential search criteria 

Where should I look?
Bestates offers a number of ways to find rental property that is available now.
Use our rental search and adjust the filters and advanced features to narrow down the search to find exactly what you want where you want.
Sign up for property alerts to find out about new to market rental properties. This gives you access to the My Move part of the website where you can save favourite properties.
Go into your nearest Your Move branch and speak to your local Lettings expert who will help you find your rental. You can discuss your needs with them, and they can advise the best areas to match your criteria.

 

Arrange Viewings
The only way to really get a feel for the kind of property you might rent is to arrange some viewings.
Go through your list of favourite properties arrange viewings via the website, or ask the branch renting the property. Many lettings agents offer video tours or virtual viewings so you can get a feel for the property and whether or not it’s right for you before visiting it in person. 
Take your list of criteria with you on the viewings to make sure the property is a good match. It is also a good idea to make a list of questions to ask – here are some important ones:

  1. How much is the rent per calendar month?
  2. What is included in the rent?
  3. What additional bills are there? What is the likely cost? If it’s a house-share, how are the bills split and who pays them?
  4. How much deposit is needed? Where will my deposit be protected?
  5. What permitted payments do I need to pay to set up the tenancy?
  6. Are there permitted payments further down the line if I choose to renew the tenancy?
  7. How long is the contract?
  8. What notice period is needed when I want to leave the property?
  9. Who should I contact in the case of an emergency?
  10. What insurance does the landlord have to cover the property? What insurance do I need to cover myself?

Budget for Your Tenancy

You will have a few significant outgoings when you first set up a new tenancy:

  1. Your refundable holding deposit of one weeks rent per tenancy.
  2. Your first month’s rent.
  3. Your security deposit which will be a total of five weeks rent per tenancy where the rent is under £50,000 per year, or six weeks rent per tenancy where the rent is £50,000 or over per year.
  4. Other initial outgoings might include the purchase of furniture if you rent an unfurnished or part furnished property

Once you have moved in, you will have ongoing costs:

  1. Your monthly rental payments.
  2. Your council tax payments. Sometimes these may be included in the rent.
  3. Your utilities including gas, electricity and water. Sometimes these may be included in the rent.
  4. Phone bills, broadband and line rental.

Make sure you take all of these costs into account when you’re thinking of renting a property.

Tenant Application Process

  1. Read your written tenancy agreement carefully to understand your rights and responsibilities.
  2. Agree an inventory (or check-in report) with your landlord and, as an extra safeguard, make sure that you take photos. This will make things easier if there is a dispute about the deposit at the end of the tenancy.
  3. Remember to take meter readings when you move in.
  4. Make sure that you have the correct contact details for the landlord or agent and you keep them handy. These should be given to you.

Documents Your Landlord or Agent Must Provide:

There are a number of documents that your Landlord or Agent must provide you with at the start of your tenancy, by law. Use the below list as a checklist, and make sure you do receive a copy of each.

  1. A copy of the guide ‘How to rent’.
  2. A gas safety certificate.
  3. Deposit paperwork.
  4. The Energy Performance Certificate.
  5.  A record of any electrical inspections.

Tenant Responsibilities

Your Responsibilities As a Tenant
Your number 1 responsibility is to pay your rent in full and on time. Not doing so would put you in breach of your tenancy agreement and at risk of losing your home.

 

Look after the property
Keep it clean, and take care of any furniture and appliances. Don’t attempt any repairs or decorating without first contacting your Landlord or Agent to seek permission and guidance.  If you notice any issues contact your Landlord/Agent to arrange repair. Not reporting minor issues that turn into major problems can be a risk to your deposit.

  

Regularly test smoke alarms
Get familiar with how the boiler and major appliances work. Find out where the stop cock, fuse box and any meters are located. Much better to know now, than wait for an emergency to try and find them. Ask your Landlord or Agent if you need to.

Last but not least be considerate to the neighbours. Anti-social behaviour could get you evicted, so just be considerate of the neighbours.

  

Your Landlord’s Responsibilities
Your Landlord/Agent has responsibilities to you as a paying tenant:

  1. Maintain the structure and exterior of the property.
  2. Insure the building to cover any damage from flood or fire.
  3. Install smoke alarms on each floor.
  4. Fit carbon monoxide alarms in rooms using solid fuels (coal or wood for example)
  5. Deal with problems related to water, electricity and gas supply.
  6. Maintain appliances and furniture they have supplied.
  7. Carry out most repairs. If something is not working, report it to the landlord (or their agent) as soon as you can.
  8. Arrange an annual gas safety check by a Gas Safe engineer (where there are any gas appliances).
  9. Give a minimum of 24 hours notice of visits for repairs or maintenance.

  10. Get a licence for the property, if it is a licensable property. This applies to properties where you rent a room in a shared house known as HMOs.

Extending Your Tenancy

Should you wish to extend your tenancy after any initial fixed period, there are a number of important issues to consider.

  1. Do you want to sign up to a new fixed term? There will likely be costs for this, check with your Landlord or Agent.
  2. It is sometimes possible to be on a ‘rolling periodic tenancy’. This means you carry on as before but with no fixed term – you can leave at any time by giving one month’s notice. Or your landlord can end the contract at two months’ notice.
  3. Your landlord might want to increase your rent. Your landlord can increase your rent by agreement, or as set out in your tenancy agreement, or by following a procedure set out in law.

 

Ending Your Tenancy
If you or the landlord want to end the tenancy there are things that both landlords and tenants must do at the end of the tenancy:

Giving Notice
It is a legal requirement for landlords to give you proper notice if they want you to leave. Normally, the landlord must allow any fixed period of the tenancy to have expired, and they must have given at least two months’ notice. Your tenancy agreement should say how much notice you must give the landlord if you want to leave the property – one month’s notice is typical.

Return of deposit
Try to be present when the property is inspected to check whether any of the tenancy deposit should be deducted to cover damage or cleaning costs (a ‘check-out inventory’).
If you do not agree with proposed deductions contact the relevant deposit protection scheme.

Outstanding Rent
Make sure that your rent payments are up to date. Do not keep back rent because you think that it will be taken out of the deposit.

Outstanding Bills
Do not leave bills unpaid. This might have an impact on your references and credit rating.

Clean Up
Remove all your possessions, clean the house, take meter readings, return all the keys and give a forwarding address.
The landlord is entitled to dispose of possessions left in the property after, typically, 14 days.

Moving Out Of Your Rented Home

Cleaning costs and unpaid rent are the top reasons why deposit money is withheld when a tenant moves out of a rented property.

So before you move out, make sure you have paid any remaining rent that is due. Keep in mind that if you are paying by cheque it will take a few days for the payment to clear, so pay in plenty of time so that by move out day all monies have cleared and no rent is owed.

Give the property a thorough clean before you leave so it is in ‘move in’ condition for the next tenant.

If you have rented a property that is full or part furnished, inspect the furniture and check for any damage.

If you have caused any accidental damage then do get it repaired professionally.

 

Tips to help avoid problems:

  1. Check the property against the condition report from when you moved in.

  2. Compare the property now to any photos taken at the start of the tenancy.

  3. Take photos when you leave.

Don’t forget to give your energy suppliers plenty of notice that you are moving out so they can organise a final bill. It is also a good idea to take meter readings on your final move out day for your records.

Inform any other suppliers that you are moving out such as Phone, Internet or TV.

Consider redirecting your mail and leaving a forwarding address with the landlord or agent.

Here at B Estates we will assist you all the way in renting a property for the best price in the shortest time possible.
Please feel free to contact us.




















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